Increase in emergency-response time caused by insufficient staffing, traffic congestion

The pandemic has detrimentally impacted cities and counties in a lot of different ways, including an increase in emergency response time in some cities—a symptom of challenges like congested streets and staffing shortages.

In New Orleans, for example, a report from AH Datalytics commissioned by the New Orleans City Council found it takes an average of 2½ hours for police to respond to a 911 call.

“The average response time has tripled between 2019 and 2022 for non-emergency calls for service and it has doubled for emergency calls for service over that span,” reads an information presentation of the research submitted to the City Council July 28. For comparison, Little Rock, Ark. averages a 20 minute response time; Cincinnati, Ohio’s is 22 minutes; New York City’s is 30 minutes, and San Francisco’s is 76 minutes, or about an hour and a half.

Perhaps explaining why emergency response times have increased so dramatically, the department has struggled with retention over the same time period—the department’s current staffing of 974 officers and 20 recruits represents a nearly 10 percent decline since the end of 2021.

And with longer response times, residents aren’t receiving the help they need. The share of “gone on arrival” calls has jumped from 19 percent in 2019 to 32 percent this year.

Regardless of the reason why, the lengthening response times have contributed to a drop in the public’s opinion of the city’s police department—to its lowest point since 2009, according to an annual survey commissioned by the New Orleans Crime Coalition.

To read the complete article, visit American City & County.